Abundance and survival of Pacific humpback whales in a proposed critical habitat area.
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) were hunted commercially in Canada's Pacific region until 1966. Depleted to an estimated 1,400 individuals throughout the North Pacific, humpback whales are listed as Threatened under Canada's Species at Risk Act (SARA) and Endangered under the US E...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:5bd78dc56477402d9bc7f3528139b536 2023-05-15T16:17:04+02:00 Abundance and survival of Pacific humpback whales in a proposed critical habitat area. Erin Ashe Janie Wray Christopher R Picard Rob Williams 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0075228 https://doaj.org/article/5bd78dc56477402d9bc7f3528139b536 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3772752?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0075228 https://doaj.org/article/5bd78dc56477402d9bc7f3528139b536 PLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 9, p e75228 (2013) Medicine R Science Q article 2013 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0075228 2022-12-31T03:31:56Z Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) were hunted commercially in Canada's Pacific region until 1966. Depleted to an estimated 1,400 individuals throughout the North Pacific, humpback whales are listed as Threatened under Canada's Species at Risk Act (SARA) and Endangered under the US Endangered Species Act. We conducted an 8-year photo-identification study to monitor humpback whale usage of a coastal fjord system in British Columbia (BC), Canada that was recently proposed as candidate critical habitat for the species under SARA. This participatory research program built collaborations among First Nations, environmental non-governmental organizations and academics. The study site, including the territorial waters of Gitga'at First Nation, is an important summertime feeding destination for migratory humpback whales, but is small relative to the population's range. We estimated abundance and survivorship using mark-recapture methods using photographs of naturally marked individuals. Abundance of humpback whales in the region was large, relative to the site's size, and generally increased throughout the study period. The resulting estimate of adult survivorship (0.979, 95% CI: 0.914, 0.995) is at the high end of previously reported estimates. A high rate of resights provides new evidence for inter-annual site fidelity to these local waters. Habitat characteristics of our study area are considered ecologically significant and unique, and this should be considered as regulatory agencies consider proposals for high-volume crude oil and liquefied natural gas tanker traffic through the area. Monitoring population recovery of a highly mobile, migratory species is daunting for low-cost, community-led science. Focusing on a small, important subset of the animals' range can make this challenge more tractable. Given low statistical power and high variability, our community is considering simpler ecological indicators of population health, such as the number of individuals harmed or killed each year by human activities, ... Article in Journal/Newspaper First Nations Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Canada Pacific British Columbia ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) PLoS ONE 8 9 e75228 |
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Medicine R Science Q Erin Ashe Janie Wray Christopher R Picard Rob Williams Abundance and survival of Pacific humpback whales in a proposed critical habitat area. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) were hunted commercially in Canada's Pacific region until 1966. Depleted to an estimated 1,400 individuals throughout the North Pacific, humpback whales are listed as Threatened under Canada's Species at Risk Act (SARA) and Endangered under the US Endangered Species Act. We conducted an 8-year photo-identification study to monitor humpback whale usage of a coastal fjord system in British Columbia (BC), Canada that was recently proposed as candidate critical habitat for the species under SARA. This participatory research program built collaborations among First Nations, environmental non-governmental organizations and academics. The study site, including the territorial waters of Gitga'at First Nation, is an important summertime feeding destination for migratory humpback whales, but is small relative to the population's range. We estimated abundance and survivorship using mark-recapture methods using photographs of naturally marked individuals. Abundance of humpback whales in the region was large, relative to the site's size, and generally increased throughout the study period. The resulting estimate of adult survivorship (0.979, 95% CI: 0.914, 0.995) is at the high end of previously reported estimates. A high rate of resights provides new evidence for inter-annual site fidelity to these local waters. Habitat characteristics of our study area are considered ecologically significant and unique, and this should be considered as regulatory agencies consider proposals for high-volume crude oil and liquefied natural gas tanker traffic through the area. Monitoring population recovery of a highly mobile, migratory species is daunting for low-cost, community-led science. Focusing on a small, important subset of the animals' range can make this challenge more tractable. Given low statistical power and high variability, our community is considering simpler ecological indicators of population health, such as the number of individuals harmed or killed each year by human activities, ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Erin Ashe Janie Wray Christopher R Picard Rob Williams |
author_facet |
Erin Ashe Janie Wray Christopher R Picard Rob Williams |
author_sort |
Erin Ashe |
title |
Abundance and survival of Pacific humpback whales in a proposed critical habitat area. |
title_short |
Abundance and survival of Pacific humpback whales in a proposed critical habitat area. |
title_full |
Abundance and survival of Pacific humpback whales in a proposed critical habitat area. |
title_fullStr |
Abundance and survival of Pacific humpback whales in a proposed critical habitat area. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Abundance and survival of Pacific humpback whales in a proposed critical habitat area. |
title_sort |
abundance and survival of pacific humpback whales in a proposed critical habitat area. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0075228 https://doaj.org/article/5bd78dc56477402d9bc7f3528139b536 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) |
geographic |
Canada Pacific British Columbia |
geographic_facet |
Canada Pacific British Columbia |
genre |
First Nations Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae |
genre_facet |
First Nations Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 9, p e75228 (2013) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3772752?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0075228 https://doaj.org/article/5bd78dc56477402d9bc7f3528139b536 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0075228 |
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PLoS ONE |
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8 |
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9 |
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